The situation
“Leader in trouble”, “Agonizing”, “81,525 sufferers”, “Miraculous”, “A dramatic leader”… The headlines of the press make it clear this Monday that Barça was unrecognizable, for being soft, in their match against Celtic . He is still the leader by goal average, yes, but footballing doubts have come over him at the worst time. The three games after the break have been very poor. In Mallorca he won with the law of minimum effort. A goal from Lewandowski and a first miracle from Ter Stegen in front of Jaume Costa saved him. In Milan , beyond the prejudice of arbitration, he played a disappointing game and got into a morrocotudo mess in the Champions League . Finally, against Celtadid not meet the minimum. The way to make waters in the second part, with Ter Stegen forced to put his hands up everywhere, was stressful for the fans, who left with fear in their bodies and disappointed, thinking that it will be very difficult to carry out a decisive week , with the visit of Inter and the Clásico at the Bernabéu. It is difficult to find explanations for this fall of Barça when they have barely been in competition for two months. It will be very serious if it was a physical issue because only eleven official games have been played. It would also be worrying if it was tactical. Barça has three games in which it seems to have a good staging, but ends up falling apart.
The details
It gets dislodged, messy and doesn’t give a sense of consistency. Individually, in addition, there are players who have faded. Starting with the star. Lewandowski has 12 of Barça’s 25 official goals, but in the last two games he has been missing. Less supplied, less agile, at San Siro he was devoured by Skriniar , De Vrij and Bastoni ; and against Celta he was not even seen despite the fact that he fought and worked in the last minutes to help his teammates remove the water that entered their house. Raphinha and Dembélé , the wingers, have also lost their shine; Busquetshe struggles to keep up when the game goes through the hour… Balde, who was being one of the best, has been misled by sitting him against Inter and placing him on the right side against Celta . And, of course, the casualties. Koundé and Araújo , footballers who give Barça physicality and put in a lot of energy, are out. Paradoxically, however, the team has held on in defense as best it could. In attack, however, he has lost joy, automatisms, imbalance and goal. You have to get all of that back in hours.